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VITAL CONNECTIONS
VITAL CONNECTIONS
October Classes
Homemade Camera Obscura Creation Activity
During this class, I proposed to them to continue with the applied and didactic learning of the creation of images. In this case, we created a camera obscura the size of the rooms where everyone lived, or at least we tried.
I was interested in carrying out this experiment with them since every time I asked them about how they thought the images were made, they always answered me that with a digital camera (which is true), however I wanted to teach them that the bases of photography lies in optics and the deformation of light rays, which does not depend on a digital device at all, but on the contrary, photography was always a completely analogous and chemical process.
This is why I decided to propose that you do the exercise at home of converting each one's rooms into a dark chamber, or 'pinhole camera'.
The premise was for them to cover the window of their room with black bags or a black material that they had on hand and then cut out a small hole the size of a 100 coin in the center of the window, so that it image that they were seeing through the window, was reflected and inverted within their room.
A priori the theory was simple, however there were many technical difficulties and it was not possible for them to observe the effect from home. Logistically, the children needed the help of their parents to cover the window since it was very large and also many times they did not have enough material to cover it.
In spite of everything, there was a child who did manage to cover it completely and managed to appreciate the slightly blurry effect, this gave me great joy since it was not about looking for a perfect result but about applying the basic concept of analog photography at home.
Cámara Oscura Casera
After finishing the class, I decided to do the experiment myself from home to understand where I had failed and how I could improve for the next class.
I realized that although it seems like a simple concept, it requires a meticulous application because it was not easy to completely cover a window with black bags, nor to make sure that the room was in total darkness, in other words the little hole where entering the light must be the only light source of the 'dark chamber'.
Below are some images and videos of the record of the experiment that I did in my room and then show the children the next class.
Magic Lantern Creation Activity
The next class was wonderful, as I was able to show them what the camera obscura experiment looked like from home and also continued with the study of the first photographic and projection machines.
While the camera obscura was the prototype of a camera, the magic lantern had the same function as a movie projector. The magic lantern was the device that physically embodied the connection between animation / drawings projected on spaces together with the analog and cinematographic learning of the original image creation devices.
It turned out to be a very enriching exercise for the children, because through a toilet paper roll tube, a little transparent tape, a marker and a flashlight, they essentially created a magic lantern, a device for projection of pictures.
It was at this moment that I felt that my search fundamentally changed, although original animation was a very valuable collective objective, it seemed to me just as important to teach them and provide them with the necessary tools and knowledge to resist a society that depends entirely on digital. , returning to the origin both metaphorically and literally turned out to be revolutionary in the midst of a pandemic that was already technologically exclusive with those children who did not have the possibility of paying for a data plan or having the internet to attend classes.
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